The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has agreed to meet independent MP Alex Greenwich and representatives from the trans community after Greenwich threatened to withdraw support from the minority government.
Greenwich – one of a handful of lower house MPs the Coalition relies on to govern – demanded the meeting on Friday following repeated comments made by the premier about the participation of transgender children in sport.
Earlier this week, Perrottet said “girls should play sport against girls” after the issue erupted when inflammatory comments by the federal Liberal Warringah candidate, Katherine Deves, were made public.
High-profile federal and state Liberals, including the NSW treasurer, Matt Kean, called for Deves to be disendorsed after she apologised for the comments, which included claims that transgender children had been “surgically mutilated”.
During a NSW estimates hearing on Thursday, Greens MP Abigail Boyd told the premier he was “on the side of the transphobes”.
Perrottet rebuked that his “views are more in line with fair-minded Australians” than Boyd’s.
“My personal view is that when it comes to competitive sport, young girls should compete against young girls,” he said. “I’m entitled to my opinion.”
Greenwich, the MP for Sydney, said he had heard from many concerned members of the trans population throughout the week and needed to raise his voice as the only member of the legislative assembly that openly identifies as part of the LGBTI community.
“A successful meeting would be the premier understanding that trans people should be able to play sport in a judgment free way, understand that sport is important to everybody and understand that sport has already dealt with this issue,” Greenwich said.
“If I’m concerned that LGBTI people are in any way being attacked … my support and cooperation with the government comes to an end.”
The Coalition is governing in minority, with only 45 of the 47 MPs required to govern outright, forcing the government to rely on the crossbench for support in the lower house.
On Friday, Perrottet stood by his comments, while confirming he would meet Greenwich.
“When issues arise that people would like to raise with me, my door is always open to have those discussions,” Perrottet told ABC radio.
“It’s probably likely on this issue that Alex and I will disagree, but we’ve also disagreed on issues in the past.
“If you’re a politician without an opinion, you’re probably in the wrong profession.”
The opposition leader, Chris Minns, said his party would not deny supply.
“Labor won’t be moving or supporting a motion of no confidence in or denying supply to the NSW government,” he said.
“The choice of government should be left to the voters in March 2023.”
Earlier in the week, Minns said trans children’s involvement in sports was “complicated”.
Scott Morrison reiterated that Deves has been “insensitive” in previous comments but that he would not let her be “cancelled” by people who disagreed with her.
“She knows she needs to be more sensitive about those issues … so it doesn’t detract from the big point that she’s making, which is about having common sense when it comes to women and girls playing sport in this country and getting a fair go,” he said on Friday.
“We can’t be running around all the time walking on eggshells.”
